The highly-anticipated Brics bank should be based in Africa, President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday.

"Africa feels the bank should be established here, particularly because the greater need for the bank is on the continent of Africa," Zuma told delegates at the World Economic Forum on Africa, in Cape Town.

He said he expected decisions about the details of the Brics bank to be made at the next summit in Brazil.

The leaders of the Brics countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – signed a deal to establish the bank at a summit in Durban in March.

Brics finance ministers were working out the finer details of the bank, including its location.

"How do we capitalise the bank by the members of Brics... so it can meet the needs the developing world has?" Zuma asked.

Brics leaders were hoping the new development bank would rival the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

"[We need] to look at a different approach to the well-established old banks, which at times, if you wanted to deal with matters as quickly as possible, it was a little bit slow," Zuma said.

Earlier, Zuma said South Africa's membership of Brics represented a turning point for Africa and its economic activities. African countries had been overlooked too many times when it came to major world events.

"This time around, the Brics links indicate that Africa cannot be bypassed by the events that are changing the landscape economically, socially, and politically in the world."

Zuma said South Africa would represent Africa's more than one billion people through its membership of Brics.

"Africa's attitude to itself and how it should interact towards the world has changed," Zuma said.

One of the major problems Africa faced was funding infrastructure development. Brics partners and African leaders were discussing the matter, he said.